I have nothing to add but to say that you are all sorts of awesome in my book. My story is similar: sharp cookie, dropped out of high school to pursue women then eventually programming (aha, there was my mistake), blah blah, now I'm in my mid-30s finishing a math degree. Couldn't be happier. People like you inspire people like me.

The only problem in not having tabs is that it's an extra 2 keystrokes per line to//-comment out a block of code.

Tools->Options->Keyboard:

* In the "Show commands containing" find Edit.CommentSelection.* Bind that command to something like Ctrl+/.* Assign, OK* Move caret to line you want to comment.* Hit Ctrl+/.* Enjoy life in a world cluttered by one less line of code.

This works whether you select a line or just move the caret to that line. It also works with several lines at a time.